Session Report: The Black Tablet - To Dalton's Camp

Over the next few days the heroes meet again with Vardigas and tell him of their meeting with Lady Caer. Vardigas refuses to meet with her; he doesn't like her and doesn't trust her. They tell him that they believe she will use violence to achieve her ends and that if they bring the Black Tablet to him she will likely kill him to get it for herself.

Vardigas determines to meet with some of the other village elders to make arrangements for his own protection. Matters seem to be well in hand and the party decides to set out to find the Tablet. Vardigas advises them to meet Kharas Fireaxe, one of the leaders of the Mining Consortium of Dalton, to see if they can get information about the location of the temple.

In the meantime, Ighttor Branloth seeks out Ekemon in an effort to win him over to Lady Caer's cause. Ekemon doesn't want to betray his friends, but he feels somehow compelled to help his fellow tieflings. Ighttor tells him that Lady Caer will pay him half of the reward for the Black Tablet up front and that if he returns it to her she will see to it that he is well taken care of. Ekemon resists the temptation and Ighttor leaves with a final admonishment, "Don't forget your true blood, Brother."

The heroes prepare for their journey to Dalton's Camp. On the morning of their departure Ekemon finds on a table in the front room of his home a cloth sack with 60 gold coins in it and a note: "Remember your true loyalties - Brother." Ekemon hides most of the gold in his home, but takes five for himself and gives ten gold to Gerry Woodcote at the Temple of the Sun. He asks Gerry to keep the donation secret.

Trek to Dalton's Camp

The party sets out on the Road to Dalton. The journey takes about seven days on foot and is mostly uneventful . . . mostly. On the third day out from Berador a band of goblins of the Blackblade tribe attacks the heroes on the road. The goblins take the upper hand for a bit, but the strength and power of the heroes wins the day. The last few standing goblins attempt to flee after their leaders fall, but the heroes chase them down and destroy them. The heroes identify the goblins as members of the Blackblade tribe by the badges worn by the two leaders of the goblin band. This tribe has long been a threat in the area, but it has been some years since they openly attacked anyone this close to Berador. They find that one of the goblin leaders wears a magical cloak (cloak of resistance +1) which Mizuni takes for his own.

Kharas Fireaxe

On reaching Dalton's Camp the heroes immediately make for the Mining Consortium offices where they meet Kharas Fireaxe, a cousin of Bracken Fireaxe. He listens impatiently to their tale and their plan to liberate the Black Tablet from the dwarf temple. He offers them a map to the location of the temple, advises them to watch out for more goblins and asks them to return to him two dwarf statuettes of Moradin that he believes are in the temple. He offers them a reward of 20 gold and a amethyst worth 100 gold for bringing him the statuettes.

The heroes stay a day or so in Dalton and then get ready to set out to the temple.